OHA Day 1 – No Ghost Sightings so far!

Today is my first day of work for the Oklahoma Heritage Association in downtown Oklahoma City as their director of technology and education outreach. It’s been a great day so far, and has NOT been punctuated by any ghost sightings in my 3rd floor office (yet) despite the fact that my provided office supplies include the following official “Ghost Sighting Antidote / Repellant” kit:

I recorded a short six minute video this afternoon over Ustream from my new office at the OHA, sharing the emergency procedures for paranormal sightings which are posted here in my office as well as discussing some of my expectations for this new job role. I also attempted to share a brief (and somewhat jittery) tour of my office, which has to date served as the archives for the OHA. The safe which was used to house the Mid-Continent Life Building’s insurance policies as well as money adjoins my office. (Our building was built around 1912.)

Our public WiFi connection does not presently permit broadcasting over Ustream.tv, so I made this recording over the AT&T 3G wireless network using my Sierra Wireless laptop card. I tested my downstream and upstream bandwidth prior to making this recorded video, and was getting a little over 200 kbps up and almost 700 kbps down.

Because of this slow upstream bandwidth, I ratcheted the audio quality for the connection down to 20 kHz and the video down to 75% quality.

I’m quite enthused with all the possibilities which this job will provide to continue working with students and teachers on digital storytelling initiatives like Celebrate Oklahoma Voices, as well as other new media and videoconferencing projects we’ve been discussing.

Wes, this sounds like your best job ever. As a writer, educator and genealogist, this educational technology experience is just what is needed to capture the interest of future historians and genealogists. Don’t forget to enlist the help of the ghosts! Maybe PBS’s History Detectives can help you with any mysteries.

Dr. Annette Lamb (in her NECC presentation) suggests this type of project as a community outreach and this might serve as a great idea for your area.